The Patriarchy Speaks

This next post is going to be a rant as there is no other way to respond to what I just had the misfortune to read. I visited The blog KALAGENESIS only to be confronted by some of the most sexist diatribe I have had the misfortune to read in the blogosphere for awhile.

“But many Black women like Angela Davis bought the communist/feminist line about male oppression.For Black girls the chance to sit next to Blond women who they’ve worshiped since they’ve gotten their first doll was a chance many could not resist.Am I making some of you uncomfortable?Good the truth always do.So to is the myth about the strong Black woman.This myth is designed to humiliate Black men and boys.Black men are still running most of the successful Black households,not women.It is Black men who are building businesses at the highest rate among any other group in America.“

The reason that WOC identified with feminism is that they realized that they were/are subject to sexism. It is not about admiring white women. Many WOC have been very critical of white women in the feminist movement, therefore your declaration that our desire to identify with feminism due to our innate love of white womanhood is patently false. Perhaps you should read the work of an anti-racist feminist like bell hooks before making such wild declarations. The strong black woman was not designed to emasculate black men as you contend. It is a social construction to encourage the belief that black female body did not constitute womanhood. In times of slavery black women worked side by side with the men in the fields simply because their femininity was not acknowledge while conversely white femininity was perceived as delicate and fragile. Creating the myth of the strong black female was based on a desire to to ensure a super exploitable workforce.

Finally, if black men are more successful in business (and I say if, because your assertion has not been proven by reliable data) it is because of the systemic nature of sexism. According to bell hooks, “black women are in an unusual position in this society, for not only are we collectively at the bottom of the occupational ladder, but our status is lower than that of any other group. Occupying such a position we bear the brunt of sexist, racist, and classist oppression. At the same time, we are the group that has not been socialized to assume the role of exploiter/oppressor in that we are allowed no institutionalized “other” that we can exploit or oppress.”

It is Black men who are building businesses at the highest rate among any other group in America.Most African American organizations,churches,charities,businesses are run by Black men.This is in spite of opposition from a racist White America.Black females are helped by the government.After 1968 White feminist convinced the proleteriate Black women that being’independent’ was the key and the result is every thug mama’s boys,gangsta rapper you see.Get rid of strong men and the young bucks will rule.Now a solution to all of this is to mentor young men in your community.Lets fight these entertainers who are encouraging the thug criminal life just to peddle a few clown records.

In what ways are black females helped by the government? I do recall Reagan referring to black women as “welfare queens”. Since women have always borne the brunt of child rearing I find your assertion that the rise of the single mother has anything to do with increased prison rate. In your analysis you fail to consider the war on drugs, the exploitative capitalist economy, and systemic racism. Oh no, it is far easier to blame the black woman. We, who hold the least power in society are responsible for societies ills. I would suggest to you, that issues are two fold, capitalism and patriarchy. The so-called young bucks will not rule if they are raised to respect women, society and given an equal opportunity. Men are currently ruling this world and what is the result: Famine, disease, hate crimes, wars, systemic rape, child abuse, pollution coupled with environmental degradation and the list goes on and on. You want change, advocate for a systems change, advocate for gender equality. Until those two things are achieved you can expect the state of the world to remain stationary. Blaming women for that which we neither consented to, or had any part in, is nothing but a sexist cop out to explain the status of the world.